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Dan Morris: Fort Sumter tour a must for Civil War enthusiasts

JTN
9:37 p.m. CDT July 19, 2014

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The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, in the harbor at Charleston, S.C. The fort used to be three stories with brick walls 5 feet thick, but artillery bombardments basically reduced it to rubble during the Civil War. Fort Sumter’s surviving structures and additions, now part of the National Park Service, can be toured but are only accessible by boat.
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Dan Morris/The Jackson Sun
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Being a history enthusiast, my bucket list had always included a visit to Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, S.C.

The first shots of the Civil War were fired toward her on April 12, 1861, and I wanted to see where it all began.

On July 4, one of the highlights of our Independence Day celebration was a tour of Fort Sumter National Monument and its museum. It is well worth the effort to see the fort's remains and learn the facts surrounding its history.

The fort, which is part of the National Park Service, is on an island in the middle of the entrance to Charleston Harbor, so it is only accessible by boat.

You pay $18 per adult, $11 per child, to ride a tour boat 30 minutes to Fort Sumter. When you arrive, you have one hour to see the fort before the boat returns to shore. That's the only downside because it takes more than an hour to thoroughly see the fort and museum exhibits and read all the information available, much less visit the gift shop.

But it's fun to stand atop the fort walls, look at the surrounding harbor and have a better understanding of what took place during the first weeks of the Civil War.

When you first see Fort Sumter, you wonder how a fort with such short walls could possibly be a deterrent. Then you learn that the fort of 1861 was reduced largely to rubble during the Civil War.

It was an impressive, three-story fort with brick walls 5 feet thick when the war began. Today you see the remains of the first story and its cannon placements, plus additions that were made in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.

History lesson

I don't want to bore you, but it might be interesting to recall a few facts surrounding the start of the Civil War in South Carolina.

On Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina delegates voted unanimously to secede from the Federal Union, following the November election of President Abraham Lincoln. The delegates said Lincoln was "hostile to slavery" and would encroach upon the rights of slaveholding states.

Within six weeks of South Carolina's secession, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana did the same. Delegates from those six states met in February 1861, adopted a constitution, formed the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis as president.

Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee eventually seceded to total 11 Confederate states.

By March, after Texas joined the Confederacy, most of the Federal forts in the first seven seceding states had been seized by the Confederacy. But Fort Sumter was still under Federal control.

On Dec. 26, 1860, six days after South Carolina seceded, Union Major Robert Anderson secretly moved his troops from another Charleston Harbor fort to Fort Sumter and vowed to hold it until ordered otherwise.

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The remains of the original first story of Fort Sumter, including gun placements and a museum, can be toured in the harbor at Charleston, S.C.
(Photo:
Dan Morris/The Jackson Sun
)

Tensions grew, and on April 12 at 3:20 a.m., Confederates warned Anderson that he had one hour to surrender or the fort would be shelled. He refused, and at 4:30 a.m. the first shot of the Civil War was fired. But it didn't actually hit anything. According to the National Park Service, it was a "10-inch mortar shell, fired from (nearby) Fort Johnson, that exploded above Fort Sumter as a signal for Confederate artillery to open fire on the Union-held fort."

Anderson's troops defended the fort for 34 hours before he surrendered. Although much of the fort was in flames or damaged, no one was killed during the bombardment, and only five Union soldiers were injured.

Anderson and his men were allowed to march out of the fort and board a ship that took them to New York. But the Civil War had begun.

Although Union guns pounded Fort Sumter often and essentially reduced it to rubble, Confederates held the fort until Feb. 17, 1865, less than three months before the war ended.

A small garrison was stationed at the fort during World War I, and anti-aircraft guns were installed during World War II. But in 1948, the fort was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service and became a national monument.

For more information on Fort Sumter, the website is www.nps.gov/fosu. Or you can call (843) 883-3123.

Dan Morris can be reached at 668-1709 or by email at danmorris44@charter.net.